LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 128, 30 May 1917, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The third Military Service Board, which concluded its sitting in Wellington yesterday, leaves for Fahnerston North on Monday next. - The No. 1 Military Service Board will hold a sitting in Wellington on Friday.

A statement of moneys dealt with by the, Hon. C. J. Johnston, Consul-General for Belgium at Wellington, shows 'that the sum in hand at 31st March, 1916, and received to 31sfc March, 1917, amounted .to '£1718 13s Id. The sum of £1500 has been paid to the Undersecretary for Internal Affairs to make up £5000 per month, to be subscribed by private persons to gain the .Government subsidy of £5000—granted since Ist April, 1915, the total amount being remitted monthly by the Government to the High Commissioner in London to be handed to the approved committee set up for dealing with the relief of Belgians in Belgium. This leaves a sum of £218 13s-Id in hand. During the same period 19 cases of clothing were received and despatched to the Belgian Ambassador, London.

Some months ago Lieutenant-Colonel Pickerill, N.Z.D.C, lately head of, the Dental School in Dunedin, was sent Home to deal with jaw cases among the New Zealand wounded. Writing to Sir James Allen, he states : "I have settled down at Waltbn-on-Thames, where all jaw cases are to be segregated. It is proposed that we should have fifty beds. There are 34 cases at present. The hospital is very well equipped, I find, and I hope to be able to do some useful work there. The dental service seems to be working most smoothly now. The drafts are coming forward in a, much more fit condition, so that present staffs should hold their jobs down now without difficulty."

A statement has been made by the Recruiting Board Regarding the classification of the Second Division of the Expeditionary Force Reserve. "The procedure to be followed in connection with the classification of the Second Division is this," states the board :

"A Reservist will be classified according to the number of his children afc the date when the Order-in-Council fixing the classification is gazetted. Before that date the Government Statistician will, by an advertisement and notices in the public press, call upon all Second Division Reservists to advise him of any change- in the number of their children since they furnished schedules, under the National Registration Act. Failing receipt of this advice, a. Reservist will be classified on the information furnished in the National Register. An increase or decease in the number of a Reservist's children after the gazetting of the proclamation will not affect for ballot purposes the position of the Reservist in the class in which he has been placed, but it will be open to him to appeal to a Military Service Board on the ground that, when called up, he was not in the class in which his name appeared, and ib will then be for the Military Service Board., if satisfied that his circumstances have changed since the gazetting of the Order-in-Council, to order his transfer to his proper class." .

A few days ago a- Press Association telegram was received from Auckland stating that Mr. William Hazard, the last survivor in New Zealand of the 57th Regiment ("Die Hai'ds ") had just died. This was contradicted by Mr. Barnard Rhodes, of Cumberland-place, who stated that his father (Mr. James Rhodes), who came out as a member of the 57th, was now living in Wellington. Mr. Samuel Hill, of Auckland, formerly of Wellington, writes to the Auckland Star that there are several other old members of that regiment still alive, including Messrs. Thos. Furlong, C. M. Gillieuddy, and Thomas Lister, of- New Plymouth, and Messrs. Edward Bezar and John Delaney, in Wellingtonl.'

A painful accident was experienced at Lambton railway station last evening by a railway employee named Nat Murphy. He was engaged in handling a fly-wheel, when it fell and crushed the toes of his right foot. He is being treated at the Hospital.

With the settlement of the eastern suburbs of Wellington, especially those "through the tunnel," Courtenay-place has become an important thoroughfare. The change is marked by the building activity in the locality. In place of old tumble-down shops and business premises of the class mostly seen in side streets modern shops are being erected. A new theatre is in course of construction, and generally the whole appearance of the locality is being altered.

The caretaker of the Hutt Recreation Ground wrote to .the Lower Hutt Borough Council on Monday night calling attention to the destruction of turf, etc.. on the Recreation Ground since the evening football practice commenced. It was decided to call a meeting of the officials of the football clubs usdng ,th« Recreation Ground to consider the best means of preventing a recurrence of the trouble, failing which the Riecreation Ground will be closed to footballers. '

The silk flag to be given to the Boy Scouts of France as a token of comradeship from the Boy Scouts of New Zealand is now exhibited in the window of the New Zealand Government Office in the Strand (writes our London correspondent of 20th "April). On either side of the flag are the senior and junior shields of the Imperial challenge com-, petition, both won by the New Plymouth Boys' High School in, 1916. There were 531 teams from all parts of the Empire.

At this week's meeting of the Lower Hutt Borough Council Councillor Carver, on behalf of the councillors, tendered to the Mayor (Mr. H. Baldwin) their hearty congratulations on his re-election as chairman of the Wellington Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. The Mayor, in acknowledging the compliment, said he appreciated the honour conferred upon him by' being re-elected unopposed to such an important office. , It. was the first time in the history of the board that the chairman had been reelected unopposed. It showed that his services had been appreciated.

Mr. C. J. Parr; M.P., has a very high opinion of General Joffre. At yesterday's luncheon tendered by the New Zealand Club, he remarked that Britain was "criminally unready for this war," and it was France who had saved the situation. France, it was also, who had driven back two million Germans at the Mime, and that battle would be written down as the greatest battle in history. Big guns and shells were the dominating factors in fhe war, and. with the Allies' present preponderance of munitions Re would not be surprised to see the Germans driven absolutely out of France before the end of the present summer in Europe.

The fine property at Nainai, Hutt Valley, which the Wellington Patriotic Society decided last night to purchase as a home for returned soldiers suffering from mental disorders caused by war service, was sold last year by the trustees of the late Hon. John Duthie, M.L.C., to Mr. W. H. George, who has been in occupation \of it for some months past. The decision of the society is contingent upon the Government taking control of the property after its purchase from Mr. George and maintaining it as a 'home for soldiers.

In the course of a letter to Sir James Allen, an officer of high rank in the British Army says : "It is quite impossible to imagine without seeing it the appalling state in which the Germans have left Bapaume, and the country and villages round it. It is, I fancy, very much what the Russians did when retiring before Napoleon. Every single thing in the country has been destroyed—houses, sheds, trees, everything. . It is lmlly awful to think what the existence of- the people over these miles of country must be for years to come. A good deal of the destruction has been absolutely wanton. For instance, small fruit trees like those growing against a wall, ornamental shrubs, monuments, etc., have all been cut, down or blown up. The women, we hear, have been treated most disgracefully, and, in fact, the Germans have behaved themselves like real beasts. One would almost think they would have learned something during the war, but apparently this is not the case."

For the good work done by him for the Crippled Soldiers' Hostel, Skipper Francis was, on Saturday evening last, presented by Wellington admirers with a silver-mounted walking-stick. The audience sang "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow," and cheered him./ Skipper Francis is shortly to tour the Wairarapa as a member ot the concert party organised by Mrs. Kennedy, in connection with the art union for soldiers.

As was inevitable, the butter fat tax came up for discussion at the Farmers' conference at Marton yesterday. Five branches — Nireha. Wanganui, Greytown, Eketahuna,, and Palmerston North—moved a remit to the following effect:—"That the branch considers the butter-fat levy imposed by the Govern,ment on one section of dairy farmers totally unjust, and urges the conference to use every endeavour to secure its removal." In addition, Greytown desired that the Government should be asked to refund the money already collected from the dairy farmers. The discussion proceeded along lines now very familiar to the public. The taxation was described as a class taxation, and for that reason it. was strongly condemned. "Tt is an arbitrary taxation, imposed without the will of the people. It is unconstitutional," stated Mr. H. A.- Kivens. Another speaker stated that the dairy farmer would not object if the-soldiers' were benefiting. Bu'fc the soldiers in France received no v butter. Finally, an amendment embodying a strong protest against the tax as a class tax, but excluding a demand for a refund of money already paid, was carried by 22 to 19.

The death is announced of Mr. Benjamin Bull, a builder and contractor, of Christchurch, at the age of 73. Mr. Bull, who was born in London in 1844, arrived 1 in Wellington by the ship St. Leonards in 1873, and shortly afterwards went to Christchurch. He commenced business as a. builder, and in that capacity he was associated with the erection' of a number of important structures. He took a keen interest in local affairs, his principal work in that connection being with the old St. Albans Borough, of which he was Mayor for three years and councillor for eleven years. He also gave considerable service as a school committeeman and member of the licensing committee. Mr. T. U. Ronayne, managing clerk of the legal firm of Messrs, Hall and Knight, was yesterday, on the motion of Dr. Prendergast Knight, admitted by his Honour the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) a solicitor of the Supreme Court.

"The inflated value of land in New Zealand at the S present time is solelyv the result of the war," stated Mr. A. P. Whatman (Wairarapa) at tho Farmers' Conference at Marton yestorday. The combined shop and dwelling in Adelaide-road, occupied by Mr. Jamc>s Henry, which was badly damaged by fire early yesterday morning, is owned by Mrs. Martha Mercer, of Derwentstreefc, Island Bay, and is insured in the Alliance Office for £600. Renewed volcanic activity of White Island, in the Bay of Plenty, is reported by the Whakatane correspondent of the New Zealand Herald. At 2 a.m. one night vivid flashes of blue flames were observed issuing from the crater, the whole of the sea between the island and the mainland being illuminated. Walking sticks are much needed for convalescent soldiers at Eotorua. Each man usually requires two, and they are taken away by the soldiers leaving for home. . Any sticks left, at the V.M.C.A. National Headquarters, Baker's Building, Featherston-street, will be forwarded to the proper official. "The only thing that can get a man on to bush land is a wife," stated Mr. W. J. Moore at the Farmers' Conference at Marton yesterday. When the question of settling soldiers on tho land was under discussion, a suggestion had been made that a company of eight or ten men should be placed on a backblock' section, which could be divided up , after the improvements had been carried out. "The more science the v greater the productivity," stated Mr. W. B. Matheson at the Farmers' Union Conference, Marton, yesterday. On "behalf of the executive, he moved the following remit:—' 'That the Minister o£ Education be thanked for the encouragement being given to rural education by establishing bursaries for agricultural students, and urging ithat his larger scheme be pasted ahead, vi order to increase the output of the Dominion." He stated that they should congratulate the Minister on taking a step—an important step —in the direction they had urged for years past. The remit was seconded by Mr. W. J. Birch (Marton), who said they should express satisfaction at even the smallest advance. The proposal was carried, unanimously.' A serious, accident occurred on Saturday night (reports the Manawatu Standard) to a party of PalmeTston residents, who were returning from Wanganui races in a motor-car driven. by G. Reed, and belonging to_Mr. H. Woodfield. ; On an incline near" Wangaehu, another car ■ carrying dazzling lamps was met, making it impossible to see the road. The driver of the Palmerston car, who says his speed was about four miles an hour at the time, put on the brakes to pull up, but bis wheels skidded on a stretch of clay on the side of the road, with the. result that the car went over tho bank, falling a distance of six or eight feet, and turning completely over on to some swampy "ground. Some of the occupants were able to get from beneath the car, and they enlisted the help of other motorists, twenty cars being at the scene in a few minutes. Tho car was raised and the other passengers released as soon as possible. All were uninjured, but it was found that one of them, Mrs. Stanley Hume, had a narrow escape from drowning, as her face was pressed into a water hole.. She was, however; rescued, and is now in the Wanganui Hospital, suffering mainly from shock. "We are all aggregating," stated :. delegate at the Farmers' Union conference at Marton 'yesterday, when land laws were under consideration. "There is not one of us who will not buy a property if it suits our purposes and our pockets." Another delegate stated that it was impossible to prevent aggregation by any means. A man could take up as much land as he liked, and put it in somebody else's name. 'It was the almost unanimous opinion of all ° the speakers that big estates were detrimental to the Dominion. One of the appellants before the First; Wellington Military Service Board at Palmerston North on Monday was Albert Reginald Beavis, plumber, who gave evidence, that there was a great shortage of men in his trade. Captain Walker : Is that your only ground of objection ? Appellant : No, I am a conscientious objector. I am a member of the Baptist Church. Mr. M'Larert: Do the Baptists as a body object to military service? Appellant : No. Captain Walker : That being so, that will put your objection out of Court. You are only expressing your own personal feelings, not those of your sect. You understand that ? Appellant : Yes. I have taken up a stand as a conscientious objectoj: for some time. Captain Walker- You have carried it t^ the extenu of being fined for not attending drill ? Appellant : Yes, and I have been deprived of my civil rights. Captain Walker : How long have you taken this stand?. Appellant: For six years, and I will stand it for 60.' Mr. M'Laren : Till the Germans come. Defendant : I am a follower of Jesus Christ. He would not bear arms, and I will not do so. The board said the evidence was not sufficient to support the appeal, which would be dismissed. A man named Arthur Palenski appeared in the Magistrate's Court' at Palmerston North on Monday, in answer to a charge that oil 28th April he did act contrary to the War Regulations, (o wit, "clutch another person's arm at the same time saying, 'Come and have a booze,' with the intent that the said person should'consume on or about licensed premises, namely the Railway Hotel, Palmerston North, intoxicating liquor, being other than liquor purchased and paid for by the consumer, with his own money " Sub-Inspector M'Kinnon prosecuted, and Mr. H. B. Cooper appeared for the defendant, - who pleaded not guilty. Evidence having been given the Magistrate (Mr. Kenrick) said defendant had said he had treated the matter as a joke. It was a foolish joke, and his Worship was not prepared to treat it as a joke at all. Defendant would be convicted and fined £2 and costs. "The future of New Zealand is bound up in small settlement," stjated Mr. W. J. Birch (Marton), at the Farmers' Union Conference yesterday